ET ^ ASTRONOMICATL AnD 
pleure. of viewing this curious phenomenon,. and fhewing it’ 
toa Rumoer of gentlemen who had affembled on the occafion. 
iay the above account of the coxtaéts the — of the in- 
m or paflage of Venus over the fun’s limb, is 18’ 30'*; near 
“one minute longer than in moft of the American obfervations. 
"By theory it fhould be 18? £6'' ; but as this muft have been 
contracted fifteen feconds by parallaxat the place of obfervation, 
“the apparent. duration of the ingrefs would be but 18' 41“; 
that i is, eleven feconds longer than it was made by écran 
"Y much doubt whether it was poflible to difcern the planet fo 
foon as eleven feconds after the firft conta&, when not a fecond 
"of its diameter had entered upon the fun. It feems more proba- 
_ ble that the internal contact was paft before the thread of fight 
appeared to me to be compleated. 
me latitude of the place where this obfervation was-made is 
| “42° 47', north. With regard to it’s longitude, the mean of 
; fix obfervations of the eclipfes of Jupiter's In pe it Tt 
26" in time eaft of Cambridge. — 
ll. An obfervation of the tranfit of Mercury over the fan, 
ve November 9, 1769, at Salem. 
The erem "Mercury, though they are not tofi SENE "t 
(d in aftronomy as thofe of "Venus, are yet of great advantage to 
a Er rfe&t the elements of his theory, and to determine the lorigi- 
. tude of places on the éarth. I ‘had an opportunity to obferve 
. ene of mae tránfits at thé houfe of essere — 7 vat 
CS x 
Aha Vio ge cs di ee een” 
